


Metta with the Monster

by Adarian



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 14:15:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16518053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adarian/pseuds/Adarian
Summary: Mrs. Chen gives Eddie a new meditation CD, this one with a focus on loving-kindness. Both he and Venom at first think it's ridiculous but realize they might just have a deeper understanding than most on what it means to unconditionally love oneself.





	Metta with the Monster

Mrs. Chen - surely she had a first name but he was too intimated to ask - was not the first to suggest meditation. He lived in San Francisco. Everyone was meditating. He only gave it a try because she wasn't some stoned out looking tech worker who claimed to have it all. Mrs. Chen put the first CD right in his bag without being prompted, giving him a stern look.

The fact it was in Mandarin and had probably fallen off a boat didn't make for a great spiritual experience. Eventually he figured out enough of it to know it was a bootleg of an Eckhart Tolle audiobook and just borrowed the English version from the library. Reportedly English version. He didn't do well with German accents.

That had all been months ago though, before Eddie had turned into a monster and eaten someone in front of her. Now Mrs. Chen had a different approach for his spiritual well-being and slipped a different CD in his grocery bag, full of truly miscellaneous junk foods and enough chocolate bars to feed a pre-natal yoga class.

"This one is different," she promised. "No more mindfulness. You are clearly already too much in your head. This one is to make you like yourself more and to make your friend nicer. Less eating heads is better for everyone."

**Not for me.**

Eddie smiled. "Thanks, Mrs. Chen. We'll give it a shot."

**We liked the mindfulness exercise with the candy. Can we do that instead?**

Eddie rolled his eyes, picked up his bag, and headed back to the apartment. Once they were home, he hung up his fake earpiece and put his groceries away. The symbiote helped a little, offering a single tendril to loving put each chocolate bar in its dedicated stack in the cupboard.

"Lasagna tonight, love?"

**The one with the vegetables or the one with the meatballs?**

Eddie rifled through the various meals in their freezer. "Meatballs."

**Yes, please.**

Eddie preheated the oven and put the lasagna out to thaw on the counter. He changed his shirt - he was always sweating buckets these days - and settled on the couch with a soda. His other hated alcohol and he was trying to make the switch. Some days it went better than others. But Venom had mostly behaved itself the last week and Eddie didn't feel the need to get drunk to distance himself.

**We like this one. No caffeine.**

"I hate to tell you, but chocolate has caffeine in it too."

**An acceptable amount for its benefits.  
**

Eddie smirked. "Right, of course."

The oven pleasantly dinged and Eddie put the lasagna in and set the timer. 45 minutes. Plenty of time to try out Mrs. Chen's new CD and figure out a way to tell her politely it was bullshit.

The symbiote complained it was cold and Eddie put his sweater back on. It snuck a tendril out to touch his lips, it's favourite way of showing affection, though Eddie suspected it also wanted a taste of whatever he had been eating. Once setting up the CD, he laid down on the floor in a comfortable position and waited for its directions.

He expected the usual about focusing on his breath, letting go of his thoughts, and all that mindfulness stuff he had heard a hundred times that only made him more aware of how depressed he was. But this was something completely different.

_Place your hand over your heart and feel it beating beneath your fingers._

Eddie did so, conscious of his heart skipping a beat under his own touch.

_Picture yourself as you are and hold that image in the heart of loving-kindness._

Venom offered an image of when it was in control and Eddie pushed it aside.

_If it helps, you can picture yourself as a young and beloved child.  
_

Eddie had lost his mother and his father had hated him. Not helpful. _  
_

_Breathe gently and recite inwardly these phrases of loving-kindness:_

_May I be filled with lovingkindness._

_May I be safe from inner and outer dangers._

_May I be well in body and mind._

_May I be at ease and happy._

Both he and the symbiote snorted. Eddie opened his eyes and considered turning off the disc when it continued.

_Imagine a love that's all encompassing. A love that perfectly understands your every thought and feelings. A love that knows your every cell and loves every part of you without condition. An overwhelmingly pure unfiltered love._

Venom's tendrils rose from his wrist, linking with his fingers against his heart. Eddie smiled. That he didn't have to imagine. That he could feel better than almost anyone on the planet. The symbiote knew him, the symbiote knew every fiber of his muscles, every thought he had before he even registered it. Every piece of him and it adored him in a way that Eddie would find impossible to understand except that he loved it just as much.

Eddie said softly, "May _we_ be filled with lovingkindness."

The symbiote chuckled. **Unlikely.**

"May we be safe from inner and outer dangers."

**We like danger.**

"May we be well in body and mind."

**That is easy enough if we have endorphins and chocolate.**

"May we be at ease and happy."

**We already make us happy.**

Eddie raised his encompassed hand and kissed it. "That we do, love. But let's give this a try just so we can say to Mrs. Chen we gave it a shot. Okay?"

The symbiote practically purred in response. **Acceptable.**

Eddie put his hand back on his heart and closed his eyes again.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by me in my anxiety/depression yoga class where my teacher gave the "imagine a love" speech (or real close to it, I wasn't in a great position to write notes) and this image popped into my head and I nearly started laughing. I hit a mental block in Nano so I thought I'd share this funny thought with all of you to help get the juices flowing on my end.
> 
> The rest of this metta meditation was inspired by Jack Kornfield and you can read it here:  
> https://jackkornfield.com/meditation-on-lovingkindness/
> 
> It's actually a very lovely practice and I highly recommend it.


End file.
